


Team Spirit

by claudinedelyon



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Eva and Marti are step-siblings, Excessive Swearing, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Humor, M/M, POV Gio, This probably qualifies as crack, and a hint of college AU, buzzfeed unsolved au, everything about this is excessive really, excessive bantering, with a side of coffeeshop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-17 23:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19965217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claudinedelyon/pseuds/claudinedelyon
Summary: Eva and Martino have been the hosts of a semi-successful ghost hunting series on YouTube for a little over a year now. Whether or not they’ve found conclusive evidence of the existence of the supernatural depends on which of the two you ask. What’s certain is that between college and traipsing through haunted houses in what little free time they have, they haven't had much time for functioning love lives. At least until they go looking for the Boy in Blue.





	1. Bumps in the Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things: Eva and Marti’s show is heavily inspired by Buzzfeed Unsolved, but you don't need to be familiar with it to follow.  
> As will be pretty obvious, I know nothing about making a YouTube series and the only knowledge I have of the paranormal comes from BFU so... let's say accuracy isn't exactly the point here.  
> Beware for mentions of giant spiders in chapter 1 only. They're not actually here, Martino just tries to freak Eva out with the idea and then it turns into a bit of a running joke.
> 
> Anyway, this is the stupidest thing I've ever written. Enjoy.

The problem with this whole situation is that Giovanni really doesn’t have that much ground to complain. After all, he was the one who went to Martino, said, "Hey, do you need some help filming?" and extolled the virtues of his camera's night mode. Maybe first, he should have considered just how much of ghost hunting would involve waiting fruitlessly in creepy, dusty old houses in the middle of the night. He yawns, tries not to check his phone again and shuffles in the pile of dust he is sitting on with the hope of finding a more comfortable position. Ghost hunting, as it turns out, is actually kind of boring.

“How long has she been in there?” Martino asks, looking up from having checked that his memory card still had some space to avoid the previous month’s disaster which had cost them a whole hour worth of footage.

Gio looks up from his own camera, which he had been inspecting as he always does when they take a break. He sometimes keeps filming while Eva or Martino are locking themselves in small rooms in the hope of sparking a reaction from whatever spirit is haunting their location. On several occasions, whoever was left with him would start to ramble to fill the silence and it has, in the past, made for some fun footage, so he keeps doing it, no matter how many times the others call it a waste of battery. But they’re well into fall, so the nights are getting colder and he forgot his gloves. No way is he letting his hands freeze for the sake of a potential joke that may not even happen.

Right now, he realizes they have a very different problem. “Wait, are you not keeping time?”

Martino’s eyes widen. “I thought you were doing it!”

At least, he picked his day to choose not to film, because if video evidence of this moment existed and Eva came across it, they would soon be the ones haunting their university editing room. A dull sound comes from down the hallway, and they both turn in its direction.

“Oh, she’s gonna kill us,” Giovanni moans.

And then, sure enough, Eva’s voice reaches them, muffled. “Has it been ten minutes?”

Giovanni and Martino exchange a panicked glance.

“Uh, one more minute,” Martino finally shouts back.

“Dude…” Gio whispers, receiving a helpless shrug in answer.

“Are you sure? It feels longer than that,” Eva asks again before they can debate what to do.

“Yeah, you’re almost done,” Martino insists. Gio gesticulates helplessly, not quite sure what’s he’s trying to convey, and receives a glare in answer. “Do you want to be the one to tell her, then?” Marti adds, in a lower voice so she can’t hear.

Giovanni gives up and takes out his phone so they don’t make the same mistake twice. They spend the next minute in silence, both staring intently at their phone screens. Martino’s the first one to speak. “Time’s up!”

The door at the end of the hallway immediately opens and Eva stumbles out of the room in her haste to get out. “Oh, thank God.”

Gio stands up and starts filming again, realizing that he should have been ready before she actually came out, but hoping she won’t notice.

“Are you okay?” Martino asks, somewhere between amusement and concern, his default setting when they’re out on location. “Did something happen?”

“It was so fucking dark in there. And something definitely brushed against my hair. Twice.”

“And in this old, abandoned, dirty house full of bugs, it couldn’t have been a spider?”

“I don’t even want to think what kind of spider could put that much weight on somebody’s hair because I definitely felt a pressure.”

“I mean, there’s all these stories about people finding huge exotic spiders…” Martino starts before she cuts him off.

“I said I didn’t want to think about it!”

“Well, it was a ghost, then. That’s conclusive evidence.”

“Either way, it’s your turn, so you can go check out the giant spider.”

“Can’t wait,” Martino concludes, turning his back on them and disappearing in the bathroom, where the local ghost, nicknamed the Boy in Blue, has been spotted on several occasions by various past owners and trespassers alike.

Giovanni stops filming and goes back to sitting on the floor, this time making sure to lean against the wall and to set an alarm for ten minutes. It’s been a long week and he is way too tired to stand around in the meantime, not when they still have hours to spend in this dump. Eva joins him with an amused look. 

“Where’s Ele?” She asks after she’s done checking the battery of her camera.

“She went to shoot some B-roll downstairs.”

When he turns to look at her, ready to ask more about what happened while she was locked in the bathroom, he finds Eva looking at him with a sweet, yet oddly fixed, smile. He smiles back hesitantly but her expression doesn’t change. It is more than a little unnerving.

“You guys totally didn’t time me, right?” She finally says, and it’s barely a question.

"What? Of course we did!"

"I know what ten minutes feel like, Gio. We've been doing this for over a year. And I know Marti's guilty face."

The problem with lying is that Gio isn’t very good at it, especially not when he’s being put on the spot, and that Eva has a great bullshit detector. Except when it comes to the supernatural obviously, but everybody has their weaknesses.

The first time he heard Eva do her spiel on the different kinds of spirits while filming, it took everything he had to remain silent behind his camera and not start poking holes into her argument. Thankfully, that’s Martino’s part in the show, which he always fulfills happily and more often than not with more sarcasm than Gio would put into it. That’s his step-brother privilege.

Since then, Giovanni’s had a chance to see her do research, talk to people about things they have seen, some of which had left them traumatized, only to be ridiculed or dismissed when they tried to seek help. He’s watched her stumble into dark room after dark room, terrified but never backing down, facing her fear like it was nothing, just for the sake of something she is passionate about. Needless to say he rarely feels like mocking her anymore now.

Martino calls him a traitor and claims he’s switched sides, but he makes fun of her enough for the two of them, and she gives as good as she gets, that’s what keeps people watching.

There’s also the problem that since he started filming with them about eight months earlier, he’s moved from derision to respect, then to awe and then to different feelings that are much less a cameraman’s respect for his host and more something else entirely. He’s dealing with them. Mostly. He’s not dealing with them quite as well when they’re sitting close together in the dark, waiting for Martino to resurface and Eleonora to come back with her own shots.

“Fine, okay, we didn’t. Marti usually does it, but we forgot. What can I do to earn your forgiveness?”

There’s a second where Eva looks thoughtful and side-eyes him like she’s deliberating something. Despite the cold air, Gio’s hands start to get clammy as he imagines that she might demand that he buy her a drink in exchange for her forgiveness.

“I don’t know that you can. You both did leave me to fight off giant spiders. I’d expect that from Marti, but I’m disappointed in you.”

Wishful thinking really is a bitch. Apparently, he’s spent long enough waiting in the dark that he can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality.

“Hey, maybe they were giant ghost spiders,” he suggests to move past the disappointment he brought on himself.

Eva shivers. “Why does that sound so much worse than if they were alive?”

He can’t hold back a laugh. “I think only you would consider that worse.”

“What, you don’t think 19th century spiders whose spirit lived through 150 years wouldn’t be worse? Who knows what they could have learned in that time? Plus, you couldn’t kill them, Gio.”

If he considers it from a horror movie point of view, not that he really expects the possibility of ghost spiders to ever be real, it does sound horrifying.

“You know what, I take it back, it is so much worse.”

“Told you,” she grins, bumping her shoulder into his.

“So, what about that forgiveness?”

“I’ll consider the proper repayment and let you know.”

For a second, Gio almost moves forward with his plan of asking if said repayment could be going out somewhere together, before having to admit to himself that letting her stew for longer than planned in a place she is terrified of and that may or may not contain giant ghost spiders is not exactly the best moment to ask out a girl he has had a crush on for months.

And then, Eleonora comes back and joins them on the floor, and Martino’s time is up soon after that so the moment, such as it was, passes.

“That was the Boy in Blue’s bedroom, that’s where he’s supposed to have died,” Eva explains as they sweep yet another empty room with their flashlights, searching for… something.

“The more you say it, the more I think that’s really not a very imaginative name for a ghost.”

“Well, he’s a boy and he’s supposed to be wearing blue. It’s descriptive. What more do you want?”

“Would we even be able to see the color of his clothes?”

“I don’t know, Marti. I’ve never seen a ghost yet.”

“And yet, you still believe. That’s commendable. What’s his name? We could call him that for a change.”

Eva turns around on the spot and points her light right in Martino’s face. In the brief moment where her own face is illuminated, Giovanni can see that she’s beaming. “You want to know his name?”

“Yes, that’s why I asked,” Martino retorts, shielding his eyes with his arm until she gets the message and redirects her light.

“You’re gonna love that.” She pauses to drag out the suspense. “His name’s Martino.”

Gio has to turn away from his camera so his snort won’t be picked up, Eleonora clasps her hand over her mouth for the same reason, and none of this is helped by the fact that Martino looks incredibly unimpressed. “Very funny. Come on, what’s his name?”

“Oh, I’m not joking. Martino Inserra was his name. Look, it’s in my notes.”

She all but shoves her phone into Martino’s face who is still blinking the light away and who recoils in surprise or maybe self-preservation. Eventually, he manages to squint at her screen. “I see that, you put… five exclamation points next to it.”

“I know, finding that out was the best day of my life.”

Martino grabs her shoulder. "I am so sorry, you never told me your life was so sad. Do you want to talk about it?"

She swats his hand away and they settle to wait, once again, for potential weird noises, strange phenomena or any natural or supernatural manifestations.

When they’re finally done making the rounds of the house, after recording the notable events of the night, a spirit/giant spider in the bathroom, strange squeaky noises in the bedroom, what was either a voice or a car in the distance in the living room, it’s time for Eva and Martino to settle for the night. They don’t always do it, but whenever the owners let them, they take the chance to sleep on location, preferably in the most active room, to see if anything happens. Neither Gio nor Eleonora envy them that particular part of the job. Giovanni may not believe in the supernatural, but the idea of spending the night in this kind of building does creep him out.

While Martino and Eleonora head to the car parked two streets away to get their sleeping bags, Giovanni and Eva check every room one last time to make sure they haven’t left any equipment behind. It’s happened before while they were in Castello di Montebello, where Martino had left his mic behind, and it had been a whole thing to get it back.

“I thought it sounded like a voice,” Eva insists one more time.

“I told you, I didn’t hear anything, so sure, could be.”

“Right, take the easy way out, Garau. I know where your loyalties lie.”

“Hey, I am but a cameraman, I have no loyalties.”

She scoffs. “Like I’m going to believe that.”

“That’s not fair. Remember last month? Those footsteps that you heard in the attic, I backed you up.”

“That’s true. My hero,” she adds. Her tone is mostly sarcastic, but Gio is getting to know Eva pretty well by now and he’s confident there’s fondness in there as well. There’s a part of Giovanni’s mind, the treacherous part that made him take three tries to utter a single sentence when she showed up at Martino’s birthday with pink flowers braided in her hair, that swoons at the words. He’s not proud of it, but it happens. This whole Eva thing is becoming a serious problem, and he really should do something about it before he shoots himself in the foot once and for all.

“Hey, who knows, maybe you’d be surprised about my loyalties.”

“Oh, would I?” She asks curiously. “Well, then we should definitely test that out, see who’s right. Maybe tomorrow night?”

Later, after a full night’s sleep, Gio will definitely blame his initial response on the late hour and the long week he’s just had. “What, you want to duel Marti or something and see who I cheer for?”

She doesn’t reply and when he turns to her, she’s looking at him with an expression that is hard to read. It is somewhere between exasperated and amused. “No, Gio, I wasn’t really thinking about Marti being there.”

“Oh, of course.” In a day or two, he will remind himself that he doesn’t deal well with sleep deprivation and that anybody could have misunderstood. “If I bought you a drink, would that prove my loyalties, then?”

Her expression softens now that he’s got it. “I think it might. I know a place not far from ours. They have a pretty great happy hour.”

“That sounds awesome. And thanks for giving me some time to sleep, I’m not always that slow, I swear.”

She laughs. “It’s also for me, because I’m not going to get any sleep in this creepy house.” A grin appears on her face and she adds, “But yeah, you should probably get your energy up. Who knows, you might need it.”

The house may be cold, but a jolt of heat sweeps through Gio and he’s about to reply when somebody giggles from the doorway. They both turn towards the sound, suddenly remembering the existence of their two friends, and sure enough, Eleonora has her camera up and Martino is stifling his laughter into the two sleeping bags.

And yes, Gio is definitely going to edit that episode, because he doesn’t trust Martino anywhere near that footage. He wouldn’t put it beyond him to claim it has romantic appeal for their steadily increasing audience.

“I know we’re in a haunted house, but this is the stuff that’s going to give me nightmares, guys,” Martino whines while joining them and handing Eva her bag.

“You couldn’t have gone round the block one more time?” Eva shoots back.

“Do you know how cold it is? You couldn’t have done that at literally any other time?” Eleonora counters.

Before the situation can devolve into a squabble of exhausted people, Giovanni cuts it short.

“Okay, well, we’ll strive to forget that you were there to see this, and you’ll forget you saw it, and in the meantime, I just want to sleep, so can we go?”

The others agree grudgingly. Eva and Martino start setting camp while Gio and Eleonora gather the equipment and head out. With a last wave and goodnights, they head back to the car to make their way to Filippo’s flat. Ele's brother is graciously putting them up for the night on the condition that they stay quiet and don’t bring back any ghosts with them. Gio falls asleep the second his head hits the sofa cushion, and luckily, his dreams feature way more pink flowers than ghost spiders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a known arachnophobe myself, I don't know why the concept of ghost spiders seemed like a good idea and I apologize.


	2. Out of this World

They meet the next morning for coffee and what they like to call a debriefing even though it is more catching up on what, if anything, might have happened overnight. It’s 7 am and Eva barely slept, which means that Martino barely slept either to keep her company, and Giovanni and Eleonora are trying to function on just over three hours of sleep.

The place they’re sitting in is at least warm, it smells like freshly-ground coffee and something baking, and the only other customers are two tired-looking women who seem to be on their way back from a night shift. They need caffeine before any of them can form any coherent thought, so they wait in silence for somebody to come take their order. Eleonora is rubbing at her eyes to wake herself up while Martino is yawning and looking at something on his phone. Eva is resting her head on Giovanni’s shoulder while he tries to stay still so as not to disturb her. Her hair is falling over her face so he can’t tell if she’s actually dozing off or not.

“Hey, welcome back!”

Giovanni startles at the voice that suddenly breaks the bubble they had been sitting in. The first feeling he registers is confusion because he doesn’t know about the others, but he’s pretty sure he’s never stepped foot in this place. When he turns to the person who spoke, he gets an answer to his question as the waiter, looking way too bright-eyed and energetic for this time of day, is looking at Martino who is happily smiling back. Gio catches Eva and Eleonora exchanging a look that reflects pretty well his own suspicions.

“You’re here early,” the waiter comments, which brings forth so many questions, way too many for any of their current brain capacities. Eleonora, who is sitting the closest to the guy, rests her chin in her hands, now fully awake and looking delighted.

Next to her, Martino is stubbornly ignoring them.

“Yes, we had some... work to do in the neighborhood,” he explains, vaguely.

“Lucky for me, then.” The waiter pauses, and Gio holds back a laugh. “I mean, I don’t get that many customers before eight, so four of them is a treat.” They all nod, but Gio doesn’t buy it and he doesn’t think the girls do either. “So, what can I get you?”

He takes their order in a perfectly professional manner, but there’s no way to ignore that when Martino speaks last, the smile on the guy’s face is no longer a polite customer service smile. Gio is sitting right across from Martino so he has a front-row seat to the mix of bashfulness and elation on his face. For all the time they spend hunting for mysterious entities, this is the real mystery right here. The girls are eating the whole thing up, and Eva is beaming with glee. All in all, it is a lot to take in on three hours of sleep.

When the waiter finally leaves with a friendly wave and a promise to be right back, Martino suddenly discovers a new passion for rearranging the sugar packets on the table as if he believed that by not drawing attention to what just happened, he can ensure that they’re going to let it slide. Eva is the first one to speak, because she’s known him since they were four and because after spending a night shooting and playing up the sibling banter, it can take them a few hours to remember to dial it back down.

“This is not your neighborhood, Marti.”

“I know,” Martino answers, his attitude the very picture of casual.

“And yet, the waiter knows you,” Eleonora continues.

“He’s the manager here, actually.” He seems to realize that doesn’t help his case and changes tacks. “Sana used to live in the area, we’ve had coffee here.”

Eva nods understandingly. “You don’t say.”

“And Filo’s not that far either.”

“The coffee must be really good if you kept coming back even though Sana moved last year and it’s, like, on the opposite side of town,” Gio says, which gets him a glare in answer. If Martino was hoping he would be on his side, he is vastly overestimating how much sleep he’s had as well as how curious the simple interaction has made him.

“It is,” he answers pointedly like that’s his best argument and they’re going to believe he only comes here for the coffee.

Curiosity notwithstanding, it is really early, Martino’s not usually comfortable being bombarded with personal questions, and now that the waiter is out of sight, he’s lost the smile and deflated a little bit, so Gio takes pity on him. Maybe it can be a conversation for later, when they’ve had their full eight hours and he’s in a place where he feels more at ease than a coffee shop where anybody could come in, within hearing distance of a guy he might like.

Gio already suspects the kind of reaction he’s gonna get to the question that’s on the tip of his tongue, but he’s hoping that distraction and sleep deprivation might play in his favor for once. "Hey, so, since we’ve been talking about expanding the topics you guys cover lately, can I suggest something?"

Both Martino and Eva groan in unison, while Eleonora simply laughs and sits back in her chair, and he hasn’t even gotten to his idea yet. So, an excellent start.

"No, you can't,” Martino replies.

"Gio. We talked about this. We're not doing an alien episode,” Eva adds, and he would be more disappointed if she hadn’t put her hand on his forearm to underline her point and then just left it there.

"And that's the one thing they agree on, so you know they're serious", Ele chimes in.

“How are ghosts more likely than aliens?”

“I don’t think either are likely”, Martino points out.

“Yeah, well, I’m not talking to you.” He turns towards the girls and away from Martino who just snorts and goes back to his phone. “You don’t think there’s a single chance aliens may have come to the planet, at some point?”

“No,” Eleonora answers.

“I think it’s highly unlikely.” Eva’s response is at least a little reassuring because if the main supporter of the idea that ghosts exist at their table flatly refused to believe in the possibility of aliens, he might have had to reconsider his stance on the topic.

“But not impossible.”

“Fine, not impossible, no.” Giovanni makes a triumphant gesture. “We’re still not talking about them, though”, Eva adds.

The only good thing about this is that at least his plan to change the subject worked. The downside is that he underestimated by a lot how effective it would be.

“No, let’s not talk about something that’s not scientifically impossible, but rather about a kid who died of a fever 150 years ago and decided to stick around his old house for no reason,” he shoots back even though there is no bite to his words whatsoever, not while she still has her hand on his arm.

“Are you talking about the Boy in Blue?” A voice interrupts before Eva can retort anything. The waiter is back with a tray covered in cups.

“Yes, you know about that?”

“Sure, I saw him when I was a kid.”

Both Eva and Martino’s heads snap in his direction. Giovanni catches Eleonora’s eye and he knows she’s just had the same thought as he has. They’re never going to make it home now.

“I grew up around here, we dared each other to go into the house all the time.”

“And you saw a ghost?” Martino asks, his voice coming out a little strangled.

Gio winces inwardly. He can’t help but feel for the guy. If he’s really into Marti, he’s just cost himself a significant amount of points. Maybe he realizes it because when he looks at Martino and answers, he doesn’t sound as confident as before. His “Yes” is almost a question. Gio wonders if he was trying to gauge which answer would help him out the most. If that’s what he was doing, he swung and missed.

Luckily, or not, it’s hard to figure out, one of the women at the other table motions for him, so he places the mugs in front of their rightful recipients before putting down a plateful of biscotti in the middle of the table.

“On the house,” he specifies with a quick glance at Martino, and he’s gone before they can protest.

The waiter doesn’t stop by their table anymore after that. A few more people come in, the two women leave and after polishing the plate and their drinks, they all start to crave for their own beds. Giovanni and Martino have two classes in the afternoon, Eva has a paper to write and Eleonora has rehearsals that night, so they are desperate to catch what little sleep they can before then. The waiter is on the phone when they come pay at the counter but he waves them off with a happy smile. Eva and Eleonora make a pit stop in the bathroom while the guys wait outside.

“So, what’s up with you and Eva?” Martino asks once the door has closed behind them.

The question catches Giovanni unawares as he was already picturing himself trying not to fall asleep on the metro back. “We’re just going for a drink.”

“You didn’t tell me you liked her.”

“And you didn’t tell me about Mr. Manager back there.”

“There’s not much to tell.” Martino looks down and kicks at a bottle cap on the ground.

Gio doesn’t insist. He replies to Martino’s statement instead. “I don’t know, I just thought it might be weird.”

“Weird? Why?”

“Because she’s your sister.”

“Ex-step-sister,” Martino points out.

“You do know that when you put it like that, it doesn’t actually help make it less weird?”

“It’s not my fault that my dad can’t stop divorcing people and that one of them happened to be Eva’s mom.”

“No, but really, you don’t mind?” Giovanni insists because it suddenly becomes imperative to make sure he doesn’t alienate the closest thing he’s got to a best friend.

“I’m not the one you have to worry about here, Gio. If it was weird for me, would that change something?”

“Well, yeah. I think.” He’s not sure how or what he would do about it, but it would, he is certain of it.

“Have you been holding out on asking her out because you thought it would bother me? You really shouldn’t worry about that.”

All Gio can do is smile in return, as a weight lifts from his shoulder. Martino shakes his head at him but he’s smiling as well.

“And maybe you could talk to Mr. Manager for something other than ordering coffee.”

“He has a name,” Martino replies and it’s the first time he’s acknowledged anything about this guy, so Gio is all ears.

“Does he?”

“It’s Niccolò.”

“Nice name. And good-looking guy.”

Martino huffs a short laugh. “I know.”

They’re interrupted by the girls coming back, so the conversation has to be put off again, but it was definitely a start and an encouraging one.

“Marti, did you know the waiter knows Sana?” Eleonora asks the second they join them.

“Yes. I told you, we came here to have coffee.”

“He went to school with her brother, that’s so weird,” she continues.

“I mean, it’s their neighborhood and he said he grew up around here.”

“Do you think Sana could have seen the ghost as well?” She turns to Eva who looks up from her phone. They consider it for a few seconds before laughing.

“No way,” Eva says. “Remember how disappointed she was when you said you were coming to film with us.”

They start walking towards the metro station in silence when out of the blue, Eva exclaims, “Oh and by the way, I got the waiter’s number.”

“Why?” Martino asks at the same time as Gio sputters, “You what?”

“For follow-up, you morons. He saw the ghost. Maybe you forgot how to do your jobs, but I didn’t.”

“Would you give it to me?” Martino asks, after a few seconds’ pause, and if he’s willing to set himself up for endless teasing from his sister, he must be at least a little desperate to get his hands on Niccolò’s number.

“Of course not. He gave it to  _ me  _ for professional and ghostly purposes. But, if we were to set up an interview with him, then you’d have to be there because it’s half your show. And then, maybe you could talk to him like an actual human being?”

“As if you knew anything about that.”

“Well, which one of us has got a date tomorrow?”

“It doesn’t count, Gio’s not an actual human being either.”

Gio’s not sure why he’s suddenly a part of this conversation but he knows better than to interject. Eleonora joins Eva in her effort.

“Marti, I’m pretty sure that if we went back in there, he wouldn’t remember any of us, he couldn’t stop looking at you.”

“And he gave us biscotti! And not, like, one each, an entire plateful.”

“Well, actually, before we left, he did say those were from last night so he couldn’t technically sell them,” Eleonora points out, for which she is rewarded by a betrayed look from Eva.

"He thought he saw a ghost, Eva,” Martino returns, which has at least the benefit of cutting short the conversation before it escalates.

"And? If you've got a problem with that, I've got some bad news about how you're spending your evenings. And about our friendship."

“And I don’t know anything about him.”

“You know his name, that’s a good start.” The words make their way out before Gio realizes it, and they earn him his own betrayed look.

“And that’s why you go out with him, dumbass, to learn more about him and see if you actually like him and not just the fact that he has gorgeous eyes.”

Next to her, Eleonora nods in agreement. “And makes delicious coffee.”

“Oh yeah, and that’s what you’re doing with Gio as well, then?”

“Stop bringing Gio into this,” Eva replies, a sentiment which Gio wholeheartedly agrees with, “We’re talking about you.”

“Wait, what’s with you and Gio?” Eleonora interrupts.

They’ve reached the metro station, which is where Martino goes his own way while the other three catch a train and hopefully their way out of this entire thing.

“I’ll tell you later,” Eva directs at Ele, before putting on a more serious tone. “Listen, Marti. I’m going to call him over the weekend to set something up either way. You’ve got until then to figure out if you do want to ask him out. And if you don’t and you don’t want to come talk to him, we’ll take care of it. But he looked really nice and I think he likes you.”

Martino glances towards Eleonora and then Giovanni, who both nod, before huffing, “Fine.”

“Fine what?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, great. Now, can we please go get some sleep?”


	3. Dealing with Demons

Giovanni doesn’t date that much so he doesn’t have a great baseline for it, but he’s confident enough that the date is an unmitigated success. After taking advantage of the happy hour to the full, they end up in a club that is pretty popular with college students where they run into several people they know. Eva only calls him ET once the entire night, which is in itself a great success. But then, he kisses her while Sia plays and the night takes its place as the best date he’s ever had.

On Sunday, he texts to ask if she is free only to learn that she is spending the day at her grandma’s. She sounds genuinely sorry even through WhatsApp and concludes her message with a heart. Gio doesn’t know exactly what his face does at that but Elia, who is lounging on the couch by his side, laughs at him for two minutes straight.

Later that day, Eva texts them all with the news that they are meeting Niccolò at the café after closing on Monday night, and a request for anybody who has any decision to make by then to get their shit together. Martino predictably replies by asking her to kindly fuck off.

When they meet up on Monday, Giovanni can’t help but notice that Martino is wearing his favorite sweater, the one he wears all winter long except when they go out filming, since clothes tend to get nicked in old buildings. The one he always wears on his rare dates. Sure, Martino’s wardrobe is pretty thin, but there’s no way it is a coincidence.

The “closed” sign is on the door but when they knock, Niccolò waves them in from inside. They make small talk about their days for five minutes, until they’re pointed to a table in the middle of the room, large enough for all five of them, and Niccolò excuses himself to go make a last round in the kitchen at the back. He comes back quickly enough, once again with a pot of coffee and a plate full of various kinds of biscuits, leftovers from the day.

“I watched some of your videos,” he announces as he takes the seat which was, very pointedly, left for him between Martino and Eva.

Martino’s face falls at the news. “Oh no.”

“Come on, don’t pretend like you’re not proud of these,” Eleonora scolds him.

“You should, they’re really fun. And well-made and researched.” He directs the compliment to Eva, who preens a little under the attention, as she should.

The show is her baby. She finds the locations, she skims through pages and pages of archives to find the relevant information, she reaches out to whoever needs to be contacted about filming authorizations, and before Eleonora came to lend a hand five months ago, she was doing it all by herself.

Martino is mostly here, in his own words, to poke the bear and be the voice of reason. He does both willingly. His last role he won’t own up to, but he also makes sure Eva doesn't have to go alone in places that terrify her. He provides metaphorical, and sometimes literal, hand-holding. He also shares the editing duties with Gio, except when the video involves people failing at realizing they are being asked out.

Then, Niccolò turns to Martino. "So, you don't think I could have seen the Boy in Blue, right?"

Martino exhales long-sufferingly. He’s had this argument with Eva herself as well as with the occasional guest or witness on the show more times than he can count. If he had to guess, Giovanni would say that he cannot be that excited at having it with Niccolò. "I think you believe you saw something."

"You say that a lot,” Nico comments, his tone perfectly neutral.

"I've been told it's the diplomatic answer." Martino glances pointedly towards Eva.

"So, do you think people who claim they see ghosts are... delusional or something?" Nico is rubbing his upper lip in what looks like a nervous gesture.

"No, no, I actually mean it. I think our minds play tricks on us all the time. And when you're in a place that has a reputation for being haunted and you're anxious, or maybe in a stressful situation, then you might mistake something for a spirit. If you’re expecting to see a ghost, you’re going to interpret what you see or what you hear under that mind frame. So, that’s why if I hear, I don’t know, the wind or wood creaking, Eva’s going to interpret it as a voice or footsteps, because it’s what she’s expecting to hear.”

“And because you’re full of shit,” Eva adds, helpfully.

“I’m sure you saw something, I just don’t know if the only explanation is that it was a ghost. It’s a pretty old house and it’s been abandoned for a while, there are so many things that could happen to make it seem like there’s a ghost passing through.” There’s silence for a moment around the table as Niccolò seems to consider his words thoughtfully and Martino watches him, twirling a spoon on the table. “And I’m not saying I can’t be wrong and ghosts definitely, 100%, don’t exist. I’m just waiting for someone,” he stretches out the word with a nod towards Eva, “to give me convincing evidence.”

“I’ll get you one day. Just you wait. And you’ll have to publicly apologize.”

“And when you do, I absolutely will.”

It’s hard to tell what Niccolò makes of Martino’s little speech, but it seems to be good enough for him as he doesn’t try to argue any more. Instead, he looks at the two redheads on both sides of him. “And you two, you’re… related?”

“Not really, my mom and his dad were married for 8 years,” Eva explains.

“Oh. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure some people in the comments were saying…” Both Eva and Martino groan and he cuts himself off with a surprised expression.

“Yes, we were siblings for a while, but now we’re not anymore. So, it’s okay to say we’re secretly sleeping together,” Martino answers.

“Please don’t say that, it’s so much worse coming from your mouth. I told you we should have just said we were siblings. No ‘step’, just ‘siblings’, period.”

“How was I supposed to know that wouldn’t stop them?”

“If you weren’t living under a rock and actually used your social media every once in a while, you would have known.”

As entertained as he is, Giovanni glances towards Niccolò who seems a little overwhelmed at the amount of information that’s just been poured into his lap when he had simply offered to talk to them about a ghost he saw as a kid. Martino notices as well.

“Sorry about that. We usually try to ignore it. Most people who comment on our video actually like ghost stories.”

“Yes, and that’s not what we’re here for.” Eleonora jumps at the occasion to try and put the conversation back on its track before it goes completely off the rails. “We wanted to ask you about the Boy in Blue.”

At her words, Niccolò turns to Martino again. “Oh yeah, and by the way, did you know you have the same name as him?”

“So I’ve been told.”

Nico glances meaningfully at Martino’s blue coat, blue sweater and blue jeans, before leaning over to him. “Are you him?” He adds in a whisper, “Is he possessing you? Blink twice if he’s making you do this.”

Martino may have a look on his face like he has no idea how to respond to that, but Gio’s made up his mind. He likes this guy. He isn’t afraid to mess with Martino and he hasn’t run away yet when he gets into it with Eva.

“Would I be able to tell if he was? And can ghost even possess people?” Martino finally asks, once he’s remembered how to speak. All four of them turn to Eva who ponders the question.

“Yes, they definitely can. But…” She glances between Giovanni and Eleonora, “I feel like we’d know, right? If you were possessed.”

“Unless he’s been possessed for as long as we’ve known him.” Eleonora suggests, putting on a suspicious voice.

“I’m not possessed.”

“I’ve known him since he was 4. That’s a long possession.”

“I am not possessed,” Martino insists while the girls ignore him.

“Was he already like that?” Eleonora asks.

“Well, yes. But honestly, if anything’s possessing him, my money’s on a demon. Now, that would explain a lot.”

Martino glances at Gio who makes a face. Ghosts are one thing but demons, they really can’t pretend to take seriously. Niccolò lets out a laugh. “A demon?”

They all turn to him now.

“You don’t believe in demons?” Eva asks, with something of a challenge in her tone. If he answers negatively, she’s going to lose her best ally in support of the supernatural and she can’t be happy about it. Eleonora usually takes her side when Giovanni and Martino gang up on her, but her own approach to the issue is more of a noncommitted "who knows?"

“Not really, it seems a bit far-fetched.”

Now, Gio may be imagining it but he knows Martino and the expression that crosses his face looks a lot like relief.

One thing clear over the interview, once they do manage to get back to the topic at hand, is that if Niccolò is not into Martino, then Gio isn't really sure how to explain his behavior. Although there was little doubt about Martino’s feelings on the matter, whatever there was also gets annihilated in the process. Eva usually leads these conversations, but the two of them keep going on tangents and joking together like they’ve known each other for years while the others sit back and observe the scene as if they were at a tennis match. At some point, Gio’s phone buzzes and he finds a text from Eleonora meant for him and Eva that says, “Do you think they would notice if we just left?” 

Next to him, Eleonora is listening to the conversation with a perfectly innocent-looking expression, but her phone is resting on her thigh under the table. Giovanni nudges her ankle with his foot and nods towards the door. She clears her throat to disguise the laugh that bubbles in her throat and turns back to them with a smile she’s trying to hold back. Eva is looking on in apparent fascination, occasionally interjecting with a comment when need be, but otherwise content to let them do their thing. Martino, even distracted, is surprisingly thorough in his questions, so he must have been paying attention in the eighteen months or so that they’ve been doing this. Gio’s a little bit proud.

About an hour later, it’s hard to ignore that they’ve got the gist of the encounter, which was after all pretty brief and happened about 13 years ago, and that Niccolò is starting to look tired. Not wanting to take over his entire evening after what must have been a long day of work, they exchange glances before thanking him and offering to help with closing up if he needs it. He declines gratefully but, after a comment from Martino, offers to give them a quick tour of the kitchen. They all beg off, leaving Martino to follow Niccolò through a door behind the counter. While he’s gone, they pack up and wait by the exit, not eager to walk back out into the cold November wind.

“Should we bet on whether or not they’ll resurface?” Eleonora asks.

“I wish we could, but he knows we’re out here, he won’t do it,” Gio sighs as Eva nods in agreement.

Sure enough, they emerge a few minutes later, laughing, and Giovanni cannot help but notice Martino putting his phone back into his pocket.

They leave Niccolò to his cleaning up and step outside with friendly waves before turning to Martino.

"So?" Eva presses.

"We’re going to see a movie on Thursday," he announces proudly.

He's got such a look of pure joy on his face, not even Eva dares make fun of him.

"That's amazing, man.” Gio claps him on the back and the beam he gets in return is almost blinding.

“Look at that, all of us getting our shit together,” Eva comments as they start making their way back to the metro. “Now, in a movie, it would be Ele’s turn to find the perfect date.”

Eleonora gives them a surprised look. “Oh, I’ve got a boyfriend.”

“What? You do?” Eva replies. At Eleonora’s nod, she continues. “But we live together, how didn’t I know that? Does he never come to the flat? It’s really not that bad.”

“Well, it’d be kind of difficult, he’s doing an MBA at Cornell right now,” Eleonora laughs.

“That’s really impressive,” Gio offers, and a flash of pride appears on Eleonora’s face.

Eva, however, is not done with her snooping. “I can’t believe I didn’t know that.”

Eleonora shrugs. “I figured you wouldn’t care that much. He’s not a ghost,” she concludes with a grin.


	4. The Bogeyman

About two months later, another Friday night finds them in yet another abandoned building. While all their friends from college are having fun somewhere warm, here they are, freezing their asses off in a frankly terrifying swimming pool. They’re looking for either some sort of poltergeist, that allegedly likes to play pranks on people, or two young women, who have on several occasions been spotted together. They’re standing by the empty pool, in the wide room with its high ceilings and broken diving boards, and Giovanni’s not easily scared but the sheer volume of the place makes it unsettling.

“So, this spirit, do we know what they want?” Martino asks, pointing his torch towards the ladder now only leading to the empty space underneath.

“It’s supposed to be a poltergeist, so to fuck with people, mostly.”

“And are you sure it’s not a demon or something?”

“It really doesn’t look like it. It’s never tried to possess or really harm anybody from what I’ve read. It’s just making things move or fall, trying to lead people towards the edge of the pool. Somebody said it could mimic voices and taunt them with it.”

Martino only hums in answer. They keep slowly making their way around the pool. They haven’t made it that far when Martino shines his light towards the ceiling with a thoughtful expression.

“Hey, Eva…” He starts.

“Here we go,” she sighs. She has reasons to be suspicious of his motives as Martino only tends to be thoughtful about ghosts when he is trying to set up some kind of joke.

“No, hear me out. Do you think proximity to the Vatican makes it more or less likely that there would be demons?”

“Why would you bring that up?”

“I’m just trying to understand.” She huffs in annoyance but ponders the question because as far as Gio is aware, she has yet to encounter a question about spirits that she doesn’t find fascinating. He may not quite understand it, but he does admire that about her. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. But I think you should request an audience with the pope and put the question to him, I’m sure he’d love that.”

“Oh, that’s a great idea. That would make an awesome episode.”

They’re standing at the bottom of the pool, which just makes Giovanni feel claustrophobic in addition to unsettled, their shouts echoing against the tiled walls as they try to get a response from the two ghosts who are supposed to haunt the place. Giovanni moves the camera from his right hand to his left as he stretches his arm. The cold is making his muscles stiff and the standing around holding a camera more uncomfortable than usual.

“You know, a couple of the articles I read said they didn’t actually drown, but instead they ran away from Giuliana’s engagement party to be together because they were in love,” Eva explains, sweeping the walls with her light. “I like that story much better.”

“But they found bodies, right? How did they determine somebody had died?” Martino, ever the realist, does not seem that impressed with the potential romance.

“Okay, so that’s where the versions differ. Some articles definitely mentioned bodies, but there were a few that said their jewels and some of their stuff had been found in the pool, but they weren’t clear as to whether or not there had been bodies.”

“Excellent police work as always,” Martino comments. Shoddy investigations do seem like a constant in all the stories they uncover that involve mysterious deaths. “But wait, if they didn’t die, then who are the ghosts?”

“That’s the thing, nobody’s sure. Some people say they could have been victims of a serial killer, or two other girls who accidentally drowned doing some kind of dare, we don’t know.”

“So, we’ve been calling for Giuliana and Ines for thirty minutes and we don’t even know if it’s actually them?”

“Right. That’s why I brought…” She drags out the suspense for a few seconds. “The Ouija board!”

“You did?” Martino asks, with more enthusiasm than he usually shows over anything supernatural. “Awesome.”

“I’ll never understand why you like it so much.”

“First off, it’s fun. Second, it freaks you out. What’s not to like?”

“You know what? You can’t bring me down. You love the Ouija board, I’ll take it as a win. Anyway, that’s for later, we still have to check out the showers first.”

The walls of the showers are peeling and the ground manages to still be slippery even though nobody must have taken a shower here in at least fifty years.

“Eva, can you tell your ghosts to hurry up? I’m fucking freezing.”

“You know that’s not how it works.”

“Actually, I don’t know how it works because ghosts aren’t real.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re too good for ghosts. How edgy of you.”

Instead of retorting as he usually would, Martino stops dead in his track and swirls around, flashing his light to the doorway leading to the changing rooms. “Did you hear that?”

Eva is immediately on alert. “No, what? Where?”

Then, they all hear it. There is a clang, a common enough sound in a place with old pipes that they’re not scared, just on their guard. The clang comes again, louder and closer. While Giovanni keeps his camera on Eva and Martino, Eleonora has gone ahead, filming the door that leads to the changing rooms, where it seems to be coming from. Something crashes to the ground. Then, footsteps, sounding like they are shuffling in the dust. A dull bang comes and the tension becomes palpable in the room. Eleonora is holding firm to her camera, her free hand having gone to the pepper spray she always carries when they film at night. Gio may not believe in paranormal entities, but he will admit that his heart is beating faster because that noise is very real, they’re all hearing it, and he does believe in people being murdered and ending up at the bottom of the front page of a newspaper.

What kind of news item would that even be? “Idiots found dead while hunting ghosts”? His brother would never forgive him for dying such a ridiculous death. His dad would only be comforted in his idea that he’s wasting his life with a film degree. His mom… He can’t even imagine what it would do to his mom.

Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, he tries to focus on the most probable explanations. It could be a squatter they’ve disturbed. Could be somebody who saw them go in and decided to mess with them. Could be an animal. A trapped owl had once nearly managed to give all four of them an aneurysm.

The place has been silent since the last noise, and they are holding their breaths.

Suddenly, a light briefly turns on right in the doorway to the changing rooms, and they hear a deep “boo”. Eva screams, Ele jumps back and Gio almost drops the camera. When he looks up, he sees Eva clutching to Martino who has a hand on her back.

And then, several things happen almost simultaneously.

First, Martino starts to laugh. Then, another laugh comes from right next to them and the light turns on again to reveal that the spirit is actually Niccolò. Gio takes a deep breath and clutches at his coat like it’s going to help get his heart rate back at a normal rhythm. Eleonora lets out a string of curses, and Eva punches Martino’s arm. “You dick! I can’t believe you!”

Nico laughs even harder while Martino has his hands on his knees and seems to have gone into ultrasounds. Eva directs her wrath against the intruder. “And you asshole! Why are you even helping him? He makes fun of you, too!”

“I know, but he can get pretty convincing when he wants to.”

Eva rolls her eyes while Giovanni keeps the camera firmly on her and away from the look Marti and Nico are exchanging.

“Gio, were you in on it?” Eva turns against him, still under the influence of adrenaline and determined to scope out the extent of the conspiracy. He raises his one free hand in innocence.

“I swear I wasn’t.”

He had started to feel a little terrified and had been considering forgoing filming in order to try and find a way to save their skins. Unlike ghosts, serial killers are certainly a very tangible reality of this world and he was not about to go down without a fight. Eva examines his face and her expression softens. “You‘ve gone all pale, so I believe you.”

Martino is laughing at him now. “Oh no, Gio. Are you okay? What would you have done if it had been an alien trying to make contact?”

"Fuck off, man, I was going to defend you."

“Don’t you dare. When I can move again, I’m going to kill you both,” Eleonora threatens from where she’s still clutching the pepper spray she had been this close to discharging right into Niccolò’s face. “I should have just maced you.”

The victim of her threat doesn’t seem to realize that the risk of her following up on said threat is still very real and has joined Martino where the both of them try to catch their breaths.

It takes a few minutes for all of them to get back to normal. They turn off the cameras while the pranksters wipe their tears of mirth and the pranked take deep breaths until they stop shaking. Eventually, quiet is restored enough for them to be able to continue more or less as usual.

“So, are we doing the Ouija thing or not?” Martino asks. When he turns to Eva for her answer, all he meets is a scowl.

“I think, after that stunt you just pulled, no, we’re not. No Ouija for you.”

“But I’ve never tried it, I was hoping I could have a go,” Nico adds.

“No, no Ouija board for assholes. I’ll tell you what, we’re going to have a session with Gio and Ele, and you guys get to film it.”

“Do Gio and Ele get a say in this or…” Eleonora tries.

“I’ve never done it either actually, so I’m up for it,” Gio says. He may not be the kind to hold a grudge, but some affronts should not be forgotten that easily.

“Of course you are,” Martino groans, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Ele?”

“Sure, why not?”

Giovanni hands over his camera to Martino who throws him a look as he takes it. “You’ve changed since you got a girlfriend, Gio.”

“Are you serious?” He nods towards Nico who is receiving instructions from Eleonora. “Look who’s talking. That’s on you guys, you should know better than to mess with Eva.”

Eleonora joins Eva who is finishing setting up and in the silence of the empty pool, Giovanni can hear Martino whispering to Niccolò, “I told you it wasn’t a good idea.”

The three of them sit up around the board and place their fingers on the planchette according to Eva’s instructions.

“Okay. Let’s do this,” she begins. “Ines, Giuliana, if you can hear us, should we kick Martino and Niccolò’s asses?”

The planchette moves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know what to tell you. Sometimes things just... happen.


End file.
